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PEGELONLINE smart home integration, free and open source

PEGELONLINE integration for Gladys Assistant

Water levels of German federal waterways (Rhine, Elbe, Danube…) from PEGELONLINE.

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Brings the water levels of the German federal waterways (Rhine, Elbe, Danube, Moselle, Main, Weser, Oder, the canals and the coast: about 800 gauges) into Gladys, from PEGELONLINE, the open data service of the Wasserstraßen- und Schifffahrtsverwaltung des Bundes (WSV). No account, no key.

Raw values, not a flood warning service. Data can be late, missing or wrong, and the integration depends on your Gladys, your Internet access and a public service. In a flood, follow the official warnings (the flood warning service of your Land, your municipality, 112). This integration is not affiliated with the WSV.

What you get​

  • One device per gauge you follow: the water level (in cm, as on pegelonline.wsv.de), the flow in m³/s, the water and air temperatures when the gauge measures them, the state of the level (low, normal, high) and the navigation level (below or above the highest navigable water level, HSW) when the gauge has these references, and the date of the last reading.
  • A gauge that stops sending is shown as such ("No new reading since…"): an old value is never sent again as if it were fresh.
  • Four scene triggers: the state changes (low, normal, high), a characteristic water level is crossed (mean water, mean high water, high water marks I and II of the Rhine…), the level rises above the highest navigable level, and falls back below it.
  • A dashboard widget: your gauges, their level, its trend (rising, steady, falling) and their state.
  • A "Find stations" button that lists the gauges around your house, by name, by river or by number, with their current level.

Requirements​

  • Gladys Assistant 5.1.0 or later.
  • Internet access from Gladys: the integration reads www.pegelonline.wsv.de.
  • For "around my house": the location of your house in Gladys (Settings, Houses). The integration asks for it at installation (the "location" permission). It is only used inside the container to find the nearest gauges: never sent to PEGELONLINE (which only sees which nearby gauges are asked for), never stored nor logged.
  • Germany only: PEGELONLINE covers the federal waterways, not the smaller rivers of the Länder.

Configuration​

Settings​

SettingWhat it does
StationsGauge numbers or station names, separated by commas: 2730010, Kaub, Passau Donau. The address of a gauge page also works.
Around my houseAlso follows the 3 nearest gauges that send readings, within 10, 20 or 50 km of your house.
Refresh interval15, 20 or 30 minutes. One request covers every station.
Language of the feature namesNames of the features of new devices (Water level, Flow…), and language of the "Last reading" text and of the scene variables.

Save, then open the Discover tab of the integration and create the devices you want. A followed station stays followed as long as its device exists, even if you remove it from the configuration.

Finding your stations​

Click "Find stations" in the configuration. Leave the field empty to list the gauges around your house (20 km, or the distance chosen), or type:

  • a station name: Köln, Koeln or KÖLN (case, accents and umlauts are ignored);
  • a river: Rhein, Mosel, Elbe (the 10 nearest, or the first 10 in river order);
  • both: Rhein Bonn;
  • a gauge number: 2730010.

Each line gives the number, the name, the river and its kilometre, the distance from your house and the current level, or "no recent reading". Copy the numbers into "Stations", then save.

Devices​

FeatureType in GladysValue
Water levelLiquid depth (cm)Level above the gauge zero, in cm; in m for the few gauges given above a datum.
Flow (m³/s)Water flowIn m³/s (Gladys has no m³/s unit: the name says it).
Water temperatureTemperature (°C)When the gauge measures it.
Air temperatureTemperature (°C)When the gauge measures it.
Water level state (MNW/MHW)Liquid level stateLow below the mean low water (MNW), High above the mean high water (MHW), Normal between.
Navigation level (HSW)Liquid level stateHigh above the highest navigable water level (HSW), Normal below.
Last readingTextDate of the last measurement, or "No new reading since…".

A feature only exists when the gauge provides it. The water level is not a depth: it is the reading of the gauge staff, above its own zero. Compare it with the characteristic levels of the same gauge (visible on its PEGELONLINE page), not with another gauge. The device parameters hold the station uuid, its number, its river and its kilometre.

The water level, flow and temperatures are numeric features: Gladys scenes can already compare them with any value of your own ("Water level above 650 cm").

Dashboard widget​

Add the PEGELONLINE widget to a dashboard.

  • Without setting: one line per followed gauge (10 at most) with its level and trend, coloured by its state: blue low, green normal, red high or above the navigable level, grey without a state or without a recent reading. A heading lists the gauges in high water.
  • With a station chosen: its live level, flow and water temperature, then its state, navigation level, trend and last reading, and a link to its PEGELONLINE page.

Scene triggers​

TriggerFiltersVariables
Water level state changesStation, new state (low, normal, high)Station name, river, water level, unit, state, previous state (code and words)
Characteristic water level crossedStation, mark, direction (rising, falling)Station name, river, water level, unit, mark code and words, its value, direction
Above the highest navigable levelStationStation name, river, water level, unit, HSW
Back below the highest navigable levelStationStation name, river, water level, unit, HSW

The marks offered: NNW (lowest known), MNW (mean low), MW (mean), MHW (mean high), high water marks I and II (Rhine: navigation restricted, then stopped) and HHW (highest known). A gauge only fires the marks it has. The fall counts once the level is 2 cm below the mark, and only then can a new rise count: a level wobbling around a mark fires once. The states come from PEGELONLINE itself.

Triggers only fire for a device you created, on a fresh reading, and not after a restart longer than a day.

Scene examples​

  • Rhine flood: "Characteristic water level crossed", station Köln, mark "High water mark I", rising → send a message: "{{station_name}}: {{height}} {{unit}}, above {{mark_name}}".
  • Cellar watch: "Water level state changes", your gauge, new state High → switch on the pump socket and notify the family.
  • Boat trip: "Above the highest navigable level", station Kaub → message "No navigation: {{river}}"; "Back below the highest navigable level" → "Navigation open again".
  • Low water: "Water level state changes", new state Low → a reminder to check the moorings.

Data sources, licence and quotas​

  • Data: PEGELONLINE, Wasserstraßen- und Schifffahrtsverwaltung des Bundes (WSV), licence DL-DE->Zero-2.0 (free use, no attribution required; the widget names the source anyway).
  • Values are raw data, published before any check by the WSV: they can be corrected later.
  • No account, no key, no documented quota. The integration stays light: one request per refresh for every followed gauge (15 minutes by default, the measurement interval), and the station list (about 300 kB) once a week, only when names, numbers or "around my house" need it.

Troubleshooting​

  • "Unknown station": check the spelling or use "Find stations", then copy the number.
  • "PEGELONLINE does not answer": the service or your Internet access is down; the values come back by themselves.
  • "Around my house" adds nothing: give your house a location (Settings, Houses), or choose a larger distance: German gauges can be far apart.
  • No state or navigation feature: the gauge has no MNW/MHW or HSW reference (lakes, reservoirs, many tidal gauges).
  • "No new reading since…": the gauge sends late or not at all; some send their values in batches, a few hours late.
  • Logs: in Gladys, the integration logs; set LOG_LEVEL=debug for every cycle.

Limits​

  • No hardware needed; tested against the live service and against recorded answers, but not yet in a real Gladys installation: feedback welcome.
  • Federal waterways only: no gauge of the Länder services (for instance the Bavarian or Baden-Württemberg flood centres).
  • No forecasts: PEGELONLINE publishes measurements only.
  • 20 stations at most from the configuration (plus the ones whose device you created).
  • The feature names are frozen when the device is created: changing the language later only changes the texts sent afterwards.

Configuration settings​

These are the settings PEGELONLINE asks for in its configuration screen in Gladys.

SettingTypeRequiredDescription
Your stationssectionNoFollow the gauges of the German federal waterways: by number or name, or the nearest ones to your house. "Find stations" below lists them with their river and current level. Save, then create the devices in the Discover tab.
Sources and limitssectionNoData: PEGELONLINE, Wasserstraßen- und Schifffahrtsverwaltung des Bundes (WSV), licence DL-DE->Zero-2.0, read without an account. Raw values, not a flood warning service: the official warnings prevail. Not affiliated with the WSV.
StationsstringNoGauge numbers or station names, separated by commas.
Around my houseselectNoAlso follow the 3 nearest gauges that send readings, within this distance of the location of your house in Gladys.
Refresh intervalselectNoGauges send a reading every 15 minutes, some every hour. One request covers every station.
Language of the feature namesselectNoNames given to the features of new devices (Water level, Flow…), and language of their texts and of the scene variables.

How to install PEGELONLINE in Gladys​

  1. In Gladys, open Integrations: PEGELONLINE appears in the catalog, next to the native integrations, with a community badge.
  2. Click Install. Gladys pulls the Docker image (ghcr.io/guim31/gladys-pegelonline:1.0.0), starts it in a sandbox isolated from the core, and generates the integration's interface (devices, discovery and configuration).
  3. Open the Configuration screen of the integration, fill in the settings, and save.
  4. You can also install it directly from its repository URL: https://github.com/guim31/gladys-pegelonline.

PEGELONLINE requires Gladys >=5.1.0. The catalog inside Gladys refreshes every hour, so a new version becomes available at most one hour after its release.

Not running Gladys yet? It is free and open source: follow the installation guide to get started.

About external integrations​

PEGELONLINE is an external integration: a community integration packaged as a Docker container and published on GitHub, that Gladys installs in one click and runs in a sandbox isolated from its core. It is published and maintained by guim31, not by the Gladys core team.

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